Exploring Organizational Culture’s Relationship To Innovation In Online Instruction

Abstract

Institutions of higher education have identified online programs as a top innovation strategy, but lack of faculty buy-in has been cited as a major challenge to launching them. In addition, leaders have identified issues of organizational culture, such as the lack of supportive leadership and a risk-averse mindset, as key barriers to their innovation efforts. In fact, researchers have uncovered a strong predictive relationship between organizational culture and innovation, such as online education. Aspects of organizational culture have been shown to influence technology use, and the adoption of online and blended learning. Comprising three manuscripts, this dissertation explores the influence of organizational culture on faculty’s adoption of online teaching and yields practical insights for leaders and stakeholders who seek to expand their online offerings. This dissertation’s original research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which faculty were essentially forced to teach online, many for the first time. These unique circumstances presented an opportunity to explore the influence of organizational culture on different types of online faculty adopters--those who were already teaching online and those who were new to teaching online due to the pandemic. The first manuscript presents a sequential explanatory mixed methods study focused specifically on these faculty who were forced to teach online during the pandemic. Surveys were used to capture faculty’s perceived organizational culture, relying on the Competing Values Framework’s four cultural archetypes. Interviews were then conducted to understand how organizational culture influenced faculty’s online teaching practices and willingness to teach online post-pandemic. The second manuscript describes the same empirical study but analyzes all online teaching adopters, who were categorized using Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations adopter categories (innovator, early adopter, early majority, late majority and laggards). The third manuscript is a systematic literature review yielding culture-based facilitators and best practices that promote online teaching adoption. These manuscripts together found collaboration was a key success factor, as well as developing and aligning to share values. As institutions’ online education plans evolve over time, culture must also evolve to meet current goals and strategies. This dissertation provides a roadmap to support institutions who seek to foster cultures that support innovation through online education.